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macjoe53 · 04-08-2008, 08:25 AM

Vick playing prison football
Apr 7, 1:54 pm EDT
NEW YORK (TICKER) —Michael Vick is playing on a different football field these days.

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Vick is playing football in prison to keep his body in shape, his arm limber and to pass the time.

“He is staying in shape,” Blank told the newspaper. “Apparently, there was a prison football team and he played quarterback for both sides.”

The disgraced and suspended quarterback of the Falcons, Vick is serving a 23-month term at a minimum security prison camp in Leavenworth, Kansas after pleading guilty in August to federal dogfighting charges.

Vick, who began serving his sentence in December, is scheduled to be released from prison in July 2009.

Blank, who has been communicating through letters initiated by Vick, said the quarterback also wrote that he has a job washing pots for 12 cents an hour.

“He’s written me a couple of times,” Blank told the Daily News. “I’ve written him back, he’s stayed in touch.”

In 2004, Blank signed Vick to a 10-year contract worth a reported $130 million.

“I just try to be supportive and as understanding as I can be,” Blank told the Daily News. “He talks about the process he is going through and what he has learned, the lessons of life, how he’s going to come out a different person.

“He’s sorry he has affected so many people in a negative way - the league, our club, our fans. He feels awful about that. The letters sound quite sincere to me. From a mental standpoint, he sounds good.”

Vick’s state trial on dogfighting charges is set to begin to June 27.